BUT, I bought a Zero G off of Ben (tip flex) and rushed home and had a cast with the Barrio line. Oh dear. What a disaster! Just would not load the rod at all and eventually I gave up.
I bought an Airflo 40+ 5 weight and what a difference. The rod is totally tranformed and you can really feel it load up.
What is interesting is this particular rod got a reel slating in a recent review (no feel, would not shoot etc) whilst the mid flex got top marks. Makes you wonder if it was not the line at fault rather than the rod.
This might also be an indicator of the fact that many of the tip action rods are geared towards casting, yet the midflex will let you cast and fish so is fundamentally more useful. (The reviews are often more indicative of the reviewers ability rather than the rod)
The actual weight of a flyline has a lot to do with it too (not just its aftma weight as they have quite large tolerances).
To me, a tip action rod is looking to have a lot of line aerialized in order to start doing what it does best, great on large waters, the more middle action rods are designed to
Load with less line in the air, this goes on right down to very slow actions where the rod is almost preloaded and you can literally cast with the leader.
Its horses for courses as usual
If you have a basic knowledge of the specifications for a line that you like, then it would make buying another one a tad easier, Barrio, Rio and Scientific anglers provide this kind of information on their sites, but i guess it does require a wee bit of understanding about what your line is doing when YOU cast it.
try before you buy is the best option where available, if you are a member of an angling club then perhaps that would give you access to more people of like minds and a few other lines to try.
Sandy